-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Taking a breather

A/N: I am truly sorry for the amount of time it is taking me between each chapter.
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and favorite this story. It does this author's heart well.
Previous chapters have all been edited for small mistakes.

Enjoy.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The next morning dawned bright and early for the Carters. The girls naturally rose early, and Sam had decided to go back up to the mountain first thing in order to get the bureaucracy out of the way. After helping the children get something to eat and setting them up with cartoons, Samantha Carter left her home and headed to Cheyenne Mountain. She had almost made it to her office before a voice stopped her in the hallway, making her cringe in guilt.

"Carter? Now that couldn't possibly be you, not when I expressly told you not to even think about setting foot in this place for another 5 days. No, my eyes must be deceiving me." General O'Neill stood at the end of the hallway pointing his finger at her.

So he'd caught her. It's not like she was going to be able to avoid him completely. She did have to make it down to his office later to get his approval for Mark to be told of the Program. She had just hoped she would be able to get some work done before it came to that.

"Sir. I can ex…"

He cut her off short. "Save it!" He raised his hand. "There cannot possibly be a good reason for you to be here instead of with your family. Scrat!"

She tilted her head and quirked her eyebrow at him.

"Ok, there might be a good reason for you to be away from them, but none I would accept."

She tried again to reason with him. "Sir, really, I wasn't planning on coming in, but something came up. I needed to come speak to you actually."

He narrowed his eyes.

"Can we talk in my lab, sir?"

He gestured with his hand for her to enter before him. He was a gentleman, after all, and the view wasn't all bad from where he was standing either.

After they had settled in and closed the door he looked at her expectantly. She breathed in deeply and began. "Yesterday I didn't have the chance to talk to you. Do you remember the things Anise delivered us from my father?"

He signaled that he, of course, remembered. Anything to do with that particular Tok'ra always seemed to be permanently ingrained into his memory due to sheer revulsion.

She went on to tell him all that had transpired, and the conversations that had been overheard by her brother. He couldn't say he was surprised by what Selmak had said. He'd grown to appreciate that little snake, as much as he could any snake. Mark, on the other hand, had given him pause. It was the most sensibility the man had demonstrated so far. Maybe there was hope for the other Carter as well.

"So, how much do you think we will need to disclose? Full shebang with the gate and trip across the galaxy, or general information of the program and knowledge on only the Tok'ra? The president will grant whichever you prefer." He asked her once she had finished.

Giving Mark access was something they had discussed in the past. Seeing as both his sister and father were involved, it did seem that something might come up which would require his prior knowledge. It seemed the time had come.

"However much you think is best, sir. Personally, I would just like to have him understand that I will never be able to answer all his questions. It's just with what he heard he will start to look into it if we don't give him concrete information – more than my father and I have done for him in the past."

He ran his hands through his hair and thought on the subject. Jake had mentioned to him that this might need to happen once he was gone. He'd even taken steps to start the ball rolling. The president had given him carte blanche where the Carters were concerned, but that didn't leave him any surer of how much to tell the man.

"We'll do this. Day after tomorrow all the paperwork should be ready. You bring Mark in here and we'll give him the standard first briefing for the new recruits. Daniel and I have been working on a new version that we can test out on him. I'll have Danny send you the notes tonight so you can take a look and present it."

She nodded. "Can SG-1 be present?"

"Undomesticated equines couldn't keep me, or them, away."

She smiled. He took her hands in his and looked deep into her eyes. She knew what he wanted to know. He cared, and she loved that he cared.

"I'm alright. Don't worry."

"I can't help it, Sam. Not a damn thing has made me stopped caring so far. What makes you think I could ever stop?"

She knew there was a camera watching them, but who cared? She reached her hand over and cupped his cheek. "Thank you." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

When Sam arrived home an hour later, after having been kicked out by the General before she could even begin to look over her paperwork, she found her house in perfect order. Cass hadn't found the time to destroy the place as she played with her nieces, and her sister-in-law had managed to keep the peace.

"Jen, you didn't have to worry about tidying up. I was going to get to it as soon as got back."

"It was no trouble, Sam. Actually, it was enjoyable, between leaving the girls with Cass, and Mark catching up on his e-mails. I managed to get some peace by washing the dishes."

Sam smiled, "Does he still read everything out loud, commenting on every other word?"

Her sister-in-law nodded.

"Yes, he does. When we first started dating, I thought it was cute. Now there are days I want to hit him over the head when he starts."

"He actually started doing that when we were kids as a way to make me lose focus. I guess it stuck. Bully for him, though. Now I can concentrate with just about anything going on around me."

Just then, Maggie and Lisa ran into the kitchen laughing and screaming. Cass was right behind them pretending to be a monster. The girls ran behind their mother and aunt, trying to get away from the Cassandra-creature when Mark came in as well. He had been trying to concentrate on replying to a request from his boss when he got distracted by all the commotion. He was glad for it because his girls playing around always managed to put a smile on his face.

"So, what's on the agenda?" He asked, looking at his sister.

"Nothing, really. I was thinking about a light lunch, maybe some board games and cartoons with the girls and some Chinese for dinner."

He cocked his head, "You have children's board games?"

Cass answered for her. "Oh yeah, we play all the time. They're mostly mine from when I was younger. But a bunch are from team nights that the guys forgot to take with them."

This satisfied her brother, who had become more used to the idea of the young woman. It also eased his mind that his sister hadn't completely shut herself off from the world and had been given this chance at almost-motherhood.

Jen and Sam prepared lunch while Cass took the girls to pick out games for them to play later on. If Mark was surprised by the amount of child-friendly things being pulled out, he did not comment.

All in all, the family spent a relaxing day finally getting reacquainted with each other. It was a relief for all that there were no more arguments or fights. After lunch Sam told Mark of their meeting at the mountain in two days' time. He simply nodded his head and said, "Ok." The subject wasn't brought up again.

Cassandra decided to spend the night and build a fort with her new-found besties. Much to the chagrin of the adults, they chose to construct their marvel right in the middle of the living-room, which moved their conversation from the comforts of the home to the solitude of the back porch. The night was nice so it wasn't that much of a sacrifice. It also allowed for a more adult conversation and no need to worry about their vocabulary near little ears that might listen and little mouths that might later repeat.

The Carter siblings finally managed to reconnect. With the days to come, Sam was glad for this. She knew it wouldn't be easy for Mark to absorb what he would be hearing. If he never spoke to her again afterwards at least they had gotten this chance.

The following day, they all hit the mall for lunch a bit of shopping. As a gag, Cassie bought the first season of Wormhole Extreme and made them sit through it when they returned. Sam was not amused but couldn't disagree too strongly without drawing attention to herself. Besides, when arguing against watching it she had to let it go, thinking it might make it easier for him to accept what she would have to tell him the following day.

,

"While you may be this astrophysics genius who will spot all the mistakes in five seconds or less, us mere mortals can enjoy it without dissecting it."

She narrowed her eyes. "You know what? Sure. Let's watch it. I never did give Marty's show a chance."

"Whose Marty?"

Sam smiled as she remembered the annoying and loveable little alien. "The writer and producer of the show. We've met. General O'Neill liaised with them during the filming of the first season to make sure they didn't destroy the Air Force's reputation."

The eldest of the Carter children had been paying close attention to the adults' conversation. If her aunt knew movie people than she must be even more important than she had originally thought. Sure, knowing all those important generals was good and all, and probably meant she was respected. But knowing Hollywood people? That meant her aunt was almost famous, and that was so much cooler. 'Just wait till I tell the girls in my class!" She thought.

"So, we can watch it, aunt Sam?" She asked with the excitement only a child could generate.

"Sure sweetie, I'll even make popcorn."

And so their day progressed. The show was watched and laughed at. No one made a single comment about how much Wormhole Extreme's alien fighting team resembled Sam's, and the family retired early in anticipation of daddy's big meeting up at the mountain.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-